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Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe

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What if everything you thought was funny about Deadpool was actually just disturbing? What if he decided to kill everyone and everything that makes up the Marvel Universe? What if he actually pulled it off? Would that be FUN for you?

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A four-part elseworld story in which an alternate version of Deadpool, caught by the X-Men, is taken to Ravencroft Asylum and put under the care of a psychiatrist named Dr. Benjamin Brighton. But, unknown to the heroes, Benjamin Brighton is in reality the microverse villain Psycho-Man in disguise, who is using his position to break the villains under his care so he can shape them into his own private army.

Unfortunately, his process works all too well and Deadpool loses the wacky voices in his head, only for them to be replaced by a single new one in a crimson box, a bloodthirsty one that sends him on a new one-man war against the Marvel Universe. And in this war, no one is safe.

The series spawned two direct sequels, which form the "Deadpool Killogy." Deadpool Killustrated follows the same version of Deadpool after murdering his way through dozens of alternate Marvel universes. He decided to go a little deeper and start hunting down the classics of literature: Dracula, Tom Sawyer, Moby Dick, Captain Ahab, and more. After that, there's Deadpool Kills Deadpool, in which this version, which we're calling "Dreadpool", hunts down the other versions of Deadpool, including the mainstream Marvel Universe Deadpool.

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In July of 2017, due to the original series having consistently high sales, the same creative team as the original reunited for Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe Again, a five-issue miniseries where Deadpool is once again on a rampage. This time, it's due to a group of villains brainwashing him, so he immediately goes into a deluded killing frenzy whenever he hears a particular activation phrase.

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Tropes:

Adult Fear: In Again, Deadpool kills Jessica Drew and her boyfriend Roger right in front of her son Gerry.

Ambiguous Ending: the ending of Again. Deadpool successfully kills all of the villains in his way and murders the Red Skull to avenge the heroes... only for the Red Skull's decapitated head to mock him, explaining that Deadpool's mind has been so fractured by this point that there's no way for him to distinguish reality from fantasy anymore. His Roaring Rampage of Revengecould have happened, or it could not have; there's no way for Deadpool to tell anymore.

Due to her powers making her near unkillable, Shadowcat is instead permanently trapped in a dimensional tesseract.

Implied in Again: the heroes investigating Deadpool's murder spree find messages begging for help in his apartment, leading them to speculate that part of his mind is aware of what's going on but is unable to stop himself. It's eventually confirmed when, in a moment of lucidity, he's able to warn Moon Knight about the villains' plan.

Anyone Can Die: Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, The Watcher, the creative team at Marvel. One of Dreadpool's ultimate goals in Killustrated is to pollute all fiction with this kind of thing, fitting the genre or not. The only subversion is in Deadpool Kills Deadpool since the 616 Deadpool would be understandably off-limits while he had several ongoings. Granted this did allow 616 Deadpool to finally apply this to Dreadpool.

Arrow Catch: In Again,Deadpool-Ultron easily catches one of Kate Bishop's arrows, then proceeds to stab Cable with it. Unfortunately for Cable, it was an exploding arrow.

Artistic License: Even for the series' rather loose standards. When the Punisher goes after Deadpool, he has the barrel of his rifle sticking several feet out the window. As the film Shooter pointed out, this is a really bad idea, given that it's much more visible, and increases the risk of light off the scope being seen. Which, in fact, is actually seen happening. This is not a mistake an experienced veteran Force Recon Marine—which both Frank and Swagger are—would make.

Badass Crew: In the sequel, a team is gathered by Sherlock Holmes consisting of Doctor Watson, Beowulf, Hua Mulan, and Natty Bumppo to combat Dreadpool. In the third sequel, we have Deadpool, Lady Deadpool, Pulppool, Pandapool, and the Deadpool Watcher. Later backed by Duckpool, Grootpool, and the Chibi Deadpool from the recap pages of the main book.

In Again, a team of heroes consisting of Moon Knight, Cable, Jessica Jones, the Punisher, Misty Knight, and Kate Bishop are tracking down the killer responsible for murdering the heroes. All of them are eventually killed.

Bittersweet Ending: Deadpool kills Dreadpool, fucking kills him dead, but all his buddies from the Deadpool Corps are dead, not to mention several other multiverses have been destroyed. On the upside, creation will survive since Dreadpool failed to kill Sherlock Holmes who takes it upon himself to will the classics back to life. It'll take awhile but the comic implies he'll eventually succeed.

Body Horror: The original five X-Men's fates in Again, thanks to Deadpool putting them in a shorted-out time machine.

Deadpool's merger with Ultron turns out to be this. Ultron's body was essentially grafted onto Deadpool's body. Once he's done killing the Avengers who came to confront him, Deadpool proceeds to rip all of the technology off of himself, which is clearly both messy and painful.

Breaking Speech: Deadpool kills Deadpool ends with mainstream Deadpool defeating Dreadpool by verbally tearing apart his motivations until he ends up having a My God, What Have I Done? moment. In the end, he barely resists at all when getting beheaded.

Boom, Headshot!: How Dreadpool kills Spider-Man in the original series, and how Deadpool kills Spider-Man 2099 in Again.

Deadpool briefly imagines himself working with Sherlock Holmes while killing Ant-Man. Holmes was, of course, a major character in Killustrated.

While fighting Gwenpool, Deadpool hallucinates that the two are fighting in a museum filled with statues of several of the various Deadpools from Deadpool Kills Deadpool, including Headpool, Dogpool, and Pandapool.

Continuity Nod: Deadpool's appearance when bonded to the Venom symbiote is the same as in Deadpool's Secret Secret Wars and Deadpool: Back in Black. After killing Spider-Man in Again, Deadpool prepares to kill the Venom symbiote, but lets it go for the sake of their old friendship, another reference to those series.

Combat Pragmatist: What's most terrifying about Dreadpool's rampage is that the vast majority of his kills are from pragmatism and outsmarting his opponents rather than any kind of fair fight. This usually ends with a good number of them dying before they even see Dreadpool or even know what's coming.

Spider-Man is killed by Deadpool shooting him at point-blank when Spidey is holding him up.

The Hulk is simply decapitated as Bruce Banner when he's tired and sleeping from having torn Dreadpool apart. Banner neglected to account for his healing factor.

The X-Men are slaughtered by a massive, intricate deathtrap designed by Arcade, exploiting their powers and using them against them. Wolverine is the only one who gets to Deadpool, but Deadpool has a Carbonadium blade handy.

The Punisher is lured into a trap using Puppet Master wearing a copy of Dreadpool's costume as bait. Dreadpool then uses one of Puppet Master's dolls to easily kill him. He then uses the dolls to effortlessly murder all the cosmic heroes and villains without having to leave the planet.

Dreadpool and Taskmaster face down for one final fight in the Man-Thing's swamp. When Dreadpool deliberately enables Taskmaster to mimic him, Taskmaster is horrified when he realizes the truth, enabling Man-Thing to kill him by touch.

Composite Character: Several (some real, some imaginary) show up in Again: Deadpool temporarily bonds with the Venom symbiote to kill Spider-Man, he imagines himself as a composite Deadpool/Spider-Man when killing Miles Morales, and he's eventually merged with Ultron.

Continuity Snarl: Again is supposedly a Stealth Prequel to Old Man Logan, but the Last Stand of several heroes is entirely different from what is shown in Old Man Logan's own series. For instance, Deadpool kills Thor (Jane Foster) by turning her into stone, when in OML Thor (Odinson) was killed by Magneto and Absorbing Man. Daredevil and Punisher died by She-Hulk's side in issue 8 of OML ongoing, but their death's at Deadpool's hands here are complettely different. Issue 5 complicates matters further by killing almost all of the villains as well.

Cruel Mercy: In Again,Deadpool decides not to kill a repentant Magneto, who's become guilt-ridden for his involvement in the massacre of all of the heroes. Not because Magneto provides him intel on the Red Skull's location, but because he wants him to live with his guilt.

For Taskmaster, he was doing the job for the money... Until he sees that Dreadpool has killed the Power Pack.

Oddly Dreadpool has one when he confronts Dracula and see how he coldly dismisses the death of one of his brides, seeing her as nothing more then a jackal that can easily be replaced. Granted Dreadpool still kills the lot of them but finds literature Dracula more of an asshole then other forms of fiction make him out to be.

In Again, even the Mad Thinker thinks that it's mad to merge Deadpool with Ultron. Not that it stops him from going through with it, mind you.

The Taskmaster in Again thinks that what the villains did to Deadpool was horrible, and ultimately refuses to fight him when he arrives to kill the Red Skull.

Fanboy: In Deadpool kills Deadpool, one version of The Watcher who observes the many Deadpools is very fond of them.

Similarly, Taskmaster briefly freaks out when his powers let him figure out Deadpool's plan. Briefly because he's killed immediately afterward.

Gone Horribly Right: Psycho-Man wanted to make Dreadpool a more efficient killer. And he succeeded.

Gory Discretion Shot: In Again, Deadpool constantly slips into delusions whenever he's committing his murders due to his brainwashing, so the reader doesn't always see the worst of his actions. Probably the best example is when a Vemon-merged Deadpool cuts to an Imagine Spot right before he devours Spider-Man's head.

Hero Killer: And villain killer, and anti-hero killer... No one is safe!

Played completely straight in Again.

HeelFace Turn: Magneto in Again eventually becomes guilt-ridden over allying himself with the Red Skull and helping to kill all of the heroes. He leaves their alliance and provides Deadpool with the location of the Skull's headquarters.

Hoist by His Own Petard: Xavier thought it was a good idea to put Dreadpool in the Ravenscroft Asylum under Dr. Brighton. Real smart, baldy. For that matter, Psycho-Man as Brighton himself got way more than the reaction he was expecting.

In Again, the Punisher finds a large, high-tech gun that Deadpool used to help kill the Guardians of the Galaxy, and keeps it so that he can use it on Deadpool himself. That's precisely what Deadpool wanted: as soon as the Punisher tries to fire it at him, the sabotaged gun vaporizes the Punisher instead.

Hope Spot: For a brief moment in Again, it looks like Deadpool might be able to break free from his conditioning as he starts to warn Moon Knight about the villains' plan... then the Red Skull appears on a monitor and says the trigger phrase he programmed into Deadpool, restoring his hold over him.

Psychotic madman Arcade is reduced to a whimpering mass of tears after seeing what Dreadpool had him build.

In Again, the Tinkerer is visibly frightened when Gwenpool has him bound and helpless, while cheerfully explaining how she's going to torture him.

Idiot Ball: Both Invisible Woman and the Hulk forget that Deadpool has a healing factor, allowing him to kill them when they drop their guard.

I'm a Humanitarian: Well, insomuch as a voice in your head can be, as the new voice implies it ate the previous two.

In Again, Deadpool gains temporary possession of the Venom symbiote and eats the head off Peter Parker.

Imagine Spot: Played for horror in Again. Due to his brainwashing, Deadpool slips into goofy, colorful fantasies whenever he's committing his murders. This prevents him from knowing he's the one responsible.

In Again, Deadpool doesn't do anything to hurt Spider-Woman's infant son even after killing both her and Porcupine in the same room. Subverted later with the deaths of not only the Power Pack, but also Lunella Lafayette.

It's Personal: After being hired by loved ones of the deceased to kill Dreadpool, Taskmaster claims this after finding out that Dreadpool has killed Power Pack, a group of kids.

For the original Deadpool, it's when Dogpool was killed.

In Again, Cable was already part of the group hunting down Deadpool, but still had reservations about actually killing him. Then he found out Deadpool killed Domino.

Kick the Son of a Bitch: Some of Deadpool's victims in Deadpool: Killustrated such as Brom Bones and Dorian Gray fall under this category. Given how both Bones and Gray were pretty horrible people in their respective novels, their deaths at Deadpool's hands pretty much come off as a case of Laser-Guided Karma.

Killed Offscreen: Happens quite a bit. The reader sees the aftermath of several of Dreadpool's encounters with the heroes and villains he killed without seeing the actual battle. Some of these kills include Ghost Rider, Doctor Doom, the Beast, and even Howard the Duck.

Dreadpool uses the Puppet Master's toys to kill off all the cosmic based heroes and villains, giving a brief cut into space to show the corpses of Nova,the Silver Surfer, Thanos, and even Galactus.

Again opens with several heroes like the Thing, the Human Torch, Iron Fist, and Luke Cage already murdered by the time the story starts. Later on, the heroes tracking Deadpool discover the corpses of the Guardians of the Galaxy and almost all of the Mercs for Money.

Againheavily plays with this in regards to the X-Men. Apart from the time-lost original five, all of them are killed offscreen. However, Deadpool notes that he's not the one who killed them. Rather, Wolverine did it already in a completely different comic (see Stealth Prequel below).

Several of the surviving Avengers arrive to face Deadpool at the end of the third issue of Again. When the fourth issue opens, almost all of them are dead.

A Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Read: Upon reading Dreadpool's mind and gaining his nihilistic views on being a fictional character created to suffer for the amusement of others, Xavier goes brain-dead.

Mind Screw: The entire ending of Again is one. Deadpool successfully kills the villains sent after him and decapitates the Red Skull. However, the Red Skull's head begins taunting Deadpool, explaining how Deadpool's mind is so fractured now that he can no longer tell what's real and what's not. As he notes, Deadpool may have actually killed the Red Skull, or he may not have; there's simply no way for him to know for sure anymore.

Moby Schtick: In Deadpool Killustrated, Captain Ahab's death at the hands of Dreadpool RetGones General Ross.

Mood Whiplash: Utilized heavily in Again. Deadpool's delusional fantasies brought on by his brainwashing are frequently contrasted with the horrible atrocities he's committing in the real world.

Mythology Gag: The first issue begins with the alternate version of the Watcher introducing the concept of the multiverse and explaining that we're seeing an alternate universe, just like in the original What If? series.

When Deadpool confronts Gwenpool in Again, he refers to her as a "variant cover knockoff," referencing how the character originated as a character from a variant cover.

Neck Snap: How Jessica Jones dies in Again. Later on, the Red Skull does this to the Taskmaster for refusing to defend him from Deadpool.

Nice Job Breaking It, Hero!: The whole mess starts with an alt-verse Professor Xavier having his Deadpool committed unaware that the asylum he sent him to was under the command of a supervillain, Psycho-Man, whose experiments silenced the voice boxes in his head which were the only thing keeping his morality in check. Once they were gone, only the red box remained who convinced Deadpool everyone had to die as a form of "mercy" from the storytellers making the comic. Cue massive multi-verse killing spree.

Not Me This Time: After killing the original five X-Men in Again, Deadpool muses that all of the other X-Men are already dead, but weren't killed by him.

Obliviously Evil: Deadpool in Again.He's been brainwashed by the Red Skull and other villains to murder other heroes, but slips into a silly Imagine Spot whenever he does so. This leaves him unaware of his actions in the real world.

Off with His Head!: Deadpool kills the Watcher and Bruce Banner this way. He also decapitates Wolverine this way, but makes it clear he doesn't expect it to be permanent.

In Again, this ends up happening to Peter Parker, Miles Morales, and Drax the Destroyer. Deadpool also does it to the Red Skull at the end. Maybe.

Oh, Crap!: Hercules' reaction upon recognizing the island he and the other gods were summoned to in Again. Unfortunately, it's too late to save them from Medusa's head.

First Moon Knight, then later all of the assembled heroes have this reaction upon finding out about the villains' plan to merge Deadpool with Ultron. The latter especially, since they only find out when Deadpool-Ultron confronts them.

Popularity Power: Acknowledged by Dreadpool as the reason why Wolverine would keep coming back no matter what he tried. Also, a pretty big motivator in the series itself.

Power Creep, Power Seep: As with its predecessor, about half the things Dreadpool uses on his targets should have either failed, done nowhere near lethal damage, or been stopped before they started. He also manages to heal back from things like head explosion or dismemberment in a way that 616 Deadpool has never done.

Professional Killer: Invoked to its fullest and deadliest extent. Dreadpool never fought fair after his transformation at Psycho Man's hands and was a very efficient killer.

Invoked in Again;the Red Skull has brainwashed Deadpool and is using him as the villain community's own personal hitman.

Pyrrhic Victory: Sherlock Holmes eventually defeats Dreadpool in Killustrated, but by that point fiction had been warped into full control of the Anyone Can Die and Kill Them All tropes as he wished. Though the comic implies Holmes will eventually get the classics back through force of will.

Recycled Premise: Again retains the basic plot of Deadpool killing the heroes of the Marvel Universe, but with a radically different story crafted around it. Ironically, said story recycles the basic premise of the backstory from Old Man Logan, with the Red Skull assembling a group of villains as part of a plot to kill all of the heroes. Ultimately, this is possibly averted as it may not be a recycled premise, but a Stealth Prequel to Old Man Logan as Deadpool discovers the dead bodies of the X-Men and sees that he didn't kill them — Wolverine did.

Redemption Equals Death: Mainstream Deadpool manages to confront Dreadpool with how pointless and nonsensical his motives are during their final fight, resulting in Dreadpool having a My God, What Have I Done?. Deadpool congratulates him for at least admitting his mistakes... then promptly kills him anyway, as that still doesn't excuse all the death he has caused, the Deadpool Corp in particular.

Taskmaster in Again. He finally turns on Red Skull claiming that what they did to Deadpool was beyond forgiveness. Red Skull snaps his neck.

Ret Gone: In Killustrated, Dreadpool's murder of characters from literature destroys all versions of those who have been inspired by them.

The Reveal: In Again #3, Wade discovers the dead bodies of the X-Men... and realizes there are claw marks on those dead bodies. Again is a possible prequel to Old Man Logan

Tele-Frag: How the Hulk and the Vision appear to die in Again.When we see the aftermath of Deadpool-Ultron's fight with the Avengers, the Vision appears to be phased into the Hulk's body.

The Fourth Wall Will Not Protect You: The miniseries ends with Dreadpool planning on killing the creative team working on the comic, and promising to come after the reader next. Ironically, it's right when they're planning how Deadpool will show up and kill the versions of them in the comic. Somehow, they completely fail to notice the man in red and black standing feet away as he talks to the audience.

Dreadpool's healing factor is ramped up several magnitudes. It's the only reason he survives most of his encounters.

The sisters of Little Women manage to force Dreadpool to use a weapon he planned to use against stronger opponents.

Sherlock Holmes of all people defeats Dreadpool and saves creation.

Trigger Phrase: In Again, Deadpool slips into a delusional state and commits his murders whenever he hears the phrase "Tirelessly, I pondered, what daydreams a carcinogenic piranha might revere" due to the Red Skull's brainwashing.

Unwitting Pawn: In Again, Deadpool is killing the other heroes due to being brainwashed by the Red Skull. He's unaware that he's the one behind the murders taking place. Even when he has moments of lucidity, he's unable to do anything to stop himself.

Villain Protagonist: Dreadpool isn't really meant to be sympathetic, and one of the major themes of the series is critique of the use of Darker and Edgier content in place of actual storytelling. Also, the third installment has him as more of the antagonist when his original counterpart steps in.

Villain Team-Up: In Again, the one responsible for Deadpool's actions is the Red Skull, who's providing the brainwashed Deadpool to the entire supervillain community as an assassin for getting rid of the heroes. He's shown to be working directly alongside Magneto, Doctor Doom, and the Abomination. Deadpool himself also briefly bonds with the Venom symbiote to kill Spider-Man.

Weaksauce Weakness: How was Deadpool able to fend off the Venom symbiote long enough to kill Eddie Brock in Again?Airhorns.

Wham Line: In Again, Deadpool makes an observation after killing the time-lost original X-Men, but realizing that all of the other X-Men were already dead:

Deadpool: But... I... I didn't do this, did I? Claw marks. This is someone else's work. I'm not the only one they're messing with, am I? Sheesh, Logan. Not you, too.

Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: Dreadpool's solution to Spider-Man. He even mocks Spidey's rogues gallery for not thinking of it themselves. (Funnily enough, they have tried that. Plenty of times. It's just his spider sense has always taken care of it before.)

You Bastard!: As indicated by the series tagline (as seen in the page quote), the series is in part a response to comic fans who want more gore and death because they think it's 'cool', 'badass' or 'fun' in their comics. In this series, Dreadpool kills off lots of people in horrific ways, and keeps breaking the fourth wall and asking the reader if they're having fun yet.

It's a key plot point in Killustrated. When Dreadpool explains his plan to Sherlock Holmes, the comic features a panel of a kid (in what's implied to be the real world) gushing over how "awesome" he thinks an issue of Deadpool Killustrated is due to all of the blood and gore.

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